Political and business leaders frequently have to handle hot potatoes – sensitive situations or controversial issues that are difficult to handle and, as a result, get passed from one person to the next.
The most favoured tactic of politicians to avoid burning their hands is to let hot potatoes cool down until public attention shifts to other issues.
The next best thing is to pass on the responsibility for public service failures to relatively low-ranking public officials or, worse, to consumers.
The government seemed to have adopted a combination of these tactics in the case of the mileage scam that has affected hundreds of car owners.
There have been clear indications that at least two car importers have committed fraudulent acts by tampering with the odometers of Japanese used cars to optimise their profits at the expense of unsuspecting buyers.
These scammed owners were then told to seek redress by negotiating directly with the car dealers who sold them the cars. If these negotiations fail, they were told to go to the Consumer Claims Tribunal and seek compensation from the sellers.
Soon after the scandal broke, Consumer Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli said: “The country takes cases like these very seriously and consumers should never be treated this way. We have zero-tolerance for such cases.”
Yet, she argued it was too early to discuss compensation for victims.
It has been just over three weeks now since the Used Vehicles Importers Association suspended two dealerships over the alleged tampering.
While the police said they had launched an investigation, there has been no news yet of any prosecutions. This looks like an open-and-shut case given the documentation that must exist on before and after car mileages.
Scammed motorists would understandably have been trying to get compensation through negotiations rather than risk months or years fighting their case in court. The alleged fraudsters too would be hoping to avoid court proceedings. They will try to reinvent themselves when this blows over. And the public is left wondering why the authorities fail to act more firmly against the alleged perpetrators.
Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia believes this hot potato is only the result of flaws in the car registration system. He said all “relevant stakeholders” were meeting to ensure a better system is implemented to prevent odometer tampering in the future and he had a guarantee that action would be taken.
Yet, he failed to guarantee that he would hold accountable senior public officials over this debacle, whether those responsible at Transport Malta, the police or the Customs Department. They have failed to ensure that the used car registration system is fit for purpose and prevents car owners from being scammed.
For too long, many of those who have abused the public’s trust remain untouchable, seemingly beyond even the supposedly long arm of the law.
Apart from the typical political rhetoric about the importance of accountability and transparency for public officials and persons of trust, little effective action is taken to enforce these principles, which must underpin the public service.
Minor offences by ordinary citizens are treated with determination by law enforcement officials.
The privileged few who fail in their duties to the public frequently get away with a mere warning that they need to pull up their socks.
The odometers scam goes beyond fraudulent practices by private companies. It is evidence of the failure of the duty of care that public officials have towards all law-abiding citizens.